Printing-press.



A. P. HARRIS. PRINTNG PRESS. APPLIQATION FILED Komm, 190s.

935,907. Patented 0013.5, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

F Je@ L' -1 Ww. j,

atta/nut A. F. HARRIS.

PRINTING PRESS.

APFLICATION r1LEDNov-z1, 1908.

Patented Oct. 5, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ALFRED r. nanars, er Wannen,

meshing gears,

entrant OHIO, ASSEGNR T0 THE BARRES U'TMATEC PRESS.

CGMPNY, 0F MILES, OHIO, A CGRJPGRATION F 'l).

PRINTNG-PRESS.

To all 'whom it may concern.' Be it known that l, ALFRED F. HARRIS, of Varren, in the county of Trumbull and State of Unio, have invented certain new and useful lmprovenients in Printing- Presses; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in. the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

As is well-known in the art of printing, streaks or blurs will occur Whenever the printing members do not have a uniform face speed. ln that class of printing machines known asv oiliset or planographic presses of the rotary type this diliiculty has been accentuated by the number' of cylinders employed, and while it might readily be overcome as between two cylinders it frequently remains in respect to one of them and the third cylinder, since itwill arise whenever there is improper packing of either the plate cylinder or the transfer cylinder, variations as small as one-thonsandth of an inch being suiieient to cause streaks.

he primaryl object ot my invention is to furnish simple and highly eiicient means for overcoming all these difficulties espe'- cially in rotary presses of the offset or planographic type.

secondary object is to provide means for carrying out my improvement in connection with odset presses now in use.

Brieiiy outlined, the'main object of my invention is e'ec'ted by having one cylinder drive another, independently ot' their interthroughont a portion of each revolution, the co tinued for sullicient time to enable the driven cylinder to drop back and the gears to again get into register. rlhis resut is brought about by having the complementary cylinders of dilerent diameters and providing each of them with cooperating bearers, the bearers of one or all the Cylinders having breaks or interruptions. When the bearers of two cylinders are in engagementthe cylinder .oflesser diameter is driven by the one of greater diameter.. l/Vhen the breaksin 'the bearers' of a cylinder are reached the cylinder drops back soV tpeccaton of Letters Patent. I applicate@ nies novembesi, ieee.

' obviated.

peration being discon- Patented Unt. e, serial ne. teams.

with a xed gear and the impression and plate cylinders with fixed and idler gears, the idler gears being utilized for receiving and transmitting power.

rlhe invention will be hereinafter fully set forth vand particularly pointed out .in the claims. in the accompanying drawings, is a rear elevation showing my mentsA applied to a vrotary planographic press. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the break or interruption in the bearers of the transiter cylinder.. Fig. 3 is a similar view showingh breaks in the 'oearers'o'f the plate cylinder and Fig. 4lshows breaks in the bearers of all three cylinders. Fig. 5 shows the driving ypower applied to the transfer sectional 1g. 5. 2' is a enlarged vertical ing of Fig. '1.

My improvement will be described primarily in its relation to ottset or planographic rotary printing presses, but is ca- T.. u ,c ignre l improveview of the gearing of face view and Fig. 8 an sectionalview of the gearl pable of a wide range of use, and hence is not confined to presses of this character. The invention may also be employed in tivo revolution machines. l have round that, in a press of the type shown, by making the transfer cylinder a of an almost inapprobly greatefdiameter than the plate cylinder 6 .and the impression cylinder c, and driving both of the latter cylinders. by the transfer cylinder, streaking will be entirely' Aroundjeach of the cylinders I place fixed bearers l Whichbecome parts of the cylinders.

l have shown in Fig. 2 the bearers of the transfer cylinder as having breaksA or interruptions 2, but if desired the bearers of the transfer cylinder may be contilmons and those of the plate cylinder and impression ,cylinder formed with interruptions (see Fig. 3) or there may be interruptions in the bearers ol each cylinder l(see Fig. 4t.) The relative diameters to which l have referred are through the several bearers. The Working portions .of the transfer cylinder and-plate cylinder are built up by packing to bring their v diameters at those portions into co rf spondence with the diameters through their respective bearers.

ln three-cylinder or .planographic presses the diameter of the Working portion' of the impression cylinder.k

cylinder.

lll)

impression cylinder l equals the diameter through the bearers without the use of .packing. As customary the several cylinders are geared together', and each cylinder is afiixed to its respective shaft. The driving power for the plate cylinder and the impression cylinder is derived from the transfer cylinder, and as the bearers of the latter engage the bearers of either of the other cylinder, together'with its shaft and gear, is thereafter, while such engagement continues, causedito move at a uniform speed with the transfer cylinder irrespective of the mesh of their gears, but when the breaks or interruptions .in the continuity or regularity of the bearers of the transfer cylinder -reach the bearers of the other cylinder the latter will fall back to permit its gear Ato again get into register with the gear of the transfer cylinder. Hence the-cylinder' of lesser diameter is, during a portion of its revolution, driven wholly by direct engagement with the cylinder of greater diameter, and the gears are again brought into register during the remainder of such revolution.

While I do,not restrict myself to any exact difference in therespective diameters of the several cylinders, I might here state that in certain styles of offset presses I have found that the stated results are obtained' if the diameter of the transfer cylinder, through its bearers, exceeds the diameters of the plate cylinder and the` impression cylinder, through their bearers, by but a few thousandt-hs of an inch, the diameters ofthe two latter cylinders being equal. /The breaks or interruptions in the bearers may be formed either by omitting reducing the thicknesses of the bearers for a short distance, sufficient to allow of a relative retrograde movement between intermeshing gears, so that the gear of the smaller cylinder may fall backinto register with the gear of the larger cylinder.

In the draw-ing I have shown the transfer cylinder as having a fixed gear 3. The gear of the impression cylinder is shown as composed of an idler-4 loose on hub 5 of the ltoothed ring of a sectional. gear 6, which hub is keyed to the shaft of the impression cylinder. rThe toothed portion of gear 6 is detachably secured to its hub by a series of screws 7, and by loosening these screws the impression cylinder may be readily adjusted by hand to secure its proper positioning relatively to the transfer cylinder. The driving pinion 3 on the operating shaft 9 is shown as meshing with the idler gear 4 which in turn drives gear 3 of the transfer cylinder, and

' drives the impression cylinthe latter in turn der throngh gear (l. This' same form of i gearing is employed on the plate cylinder,

the idler 4 being utilized to drive the inklng mechanism through near 10. while the plate *to the plate cy cylinders such 'cy inder.

ing of greater'diameter than Vthe er segments thereof or .by l.being affixed to its respective shaft,

` cylinders,

cylinder itself is driven by gear 3 in mesh Withsectional inder shaft.

his arrangement Vof gearing found advantageous olfset presses now inuse, but my invention is not confined to the empio ment of gearing constructed as here outline inking mechanism may be separately 4operated, that is, by cylinder gear-(afg, of all th'reen'yhnders may has been and inthat event the gears fitted directly ythereto and. the same results obtained in re- 'spectto the avoidance of streaks by 'applic in the driving power direct to the transfer Thus, in Fig. e, I have shcwn pinion 8 of the driving shaft 9 lin direct :mesh with gear 12 of ,the transfer cylinder,

,which Vlatter is in mesh with the fixed gear 13 of the plate cylinder and the f 14 ofthe impression cylinder.

fixed gear in this arsrangement the inking mechanism 'driven -by a separate shaft l5 actuated by the driv- -ing shaft 9.

I claim as my invention:^w

l. In a printing press having tive if. ders, each c lander bein l t ailixea to i spective sha t, and one o said cylfndL each cylinder and the cylinder of lesser diameter together with its shaft be driven by the other cylinder duringa portion of -its revolution, independently of its rotating means.

2. In a printing press having two cylinders and intermeshing' gears, each'cylinder and one cylinder being of greater diameter than the lother, means on the former cylinder fordriving the cylinder of lesser diameter tc- .gether with its shaft, independently of the gears, during a portion of its revolution.

3. In a printing press having two cylinders, each cylinderl being affixed to its spective shaft, and one of said cylinders being of greater diameter than they other, means for causing the cylinder of lesser diameter together with its shaft to be driven by the other cylinder during a portion of 4its revolution, such means comprising eooperating bearers on both cylinders, and means for permitting a retrograde movement of the cylinder of lesser diameter at another portion of its revolution.

4. In a planographic press having ya plate cylinder, a transfer cylinder and an impression cylinder, its respective shaft, andv said transfer cyiin.v

ear 6', whose hub 5" is keyed for certain forms of If desired, the Y means independent ofthe f each cylinder being afiixed to der being of greater diameter than the other, Y

means for rotating said cylinders, and means for causing the plate cylinder together with its shaft to be driven by the transfer cylinder during a. portion of its revolution independent-ly of means.

5. In a planographic press having a plate cylinder, a transfer cylinder and an impression cylinder, said transfer cylinder being of greater diameter than the other cylinders, means for rotating said cylinders, and means for causing the impression cylinder to be driven by the' transfer cylinder dulrin a portion of its revolution independently of its rotating means.

its rotating (t. In a planographic press havinga plate y cylinder, a transfer cylinder and an 1mpression cylinder, said transfer cylinder being of greater diameter than the other cylinders, means for rotating said cylinders, and means for causing the plate cylinder and the im'- pression cylinder to be driven by the transfer cylinder during portions of their revolutio-ns independently of their rotating means.

7. In a planographic press having a plate cylinder, a transfer cylinder and an impression cylinder', said transfer cylinder beingof greater diameter than the other cylinders, means for rotating said cylinders, and means for causing thev plate cylinder and the impression cylinder to be driven by the transfer cylinder during portions of their revolutions independently of their rotating means, such former means comprising cooperating bearers on the several cylinders, the bearers of one of two co-acting cylinders being formed with breaks or interruptions.

8. In a planographic press having a plate cylinder, a transfer cylinder and an impression cylinder, said transfer cylinder being of greater diameter than the other cylinders,

. means for rotating said cylinders, and means for causing the plate cylinder and impression cylinder to be driven by the transfer cylinder daring portions of their revolutions independently of their rotating means, such former means comprising cooperating bearers on the several cylinders, the'bcarers of the'transfer cylinder being formed with breaks and interruptions.

9. In -a printing press having two cylinders, an inkin'g mechanism having a gear, a fixed gear on one cylinder, and a fixed gear and an idler gear on the other cylinder both in mesh with the first'mentioned fixed gear, said idler gear being also in mesh with the inking mechanism gear.

10. In a printing press having two cylinders, a fixed gear on one cylinder, a sectional gear having a hub fixed to the other cylinder, means for binding said sections together', an idler gear loose on said hub and in mesh with said fixed gear, and a driving shaft having a pinion 1n mesh with said idler gear.

l1. In a printing press having two cylinders, an inking mechanism having agear, a fixed gear on oneof said cylinders, a sectional gearhaving a hub fixed to the other cylinder, means for binding said' sections together, and an idler gear loose on said hub and in mesh with said fixed gear and also with the gear of the inking mechanism.

l2. In a printing press having aplate cylinder, a transfer cylinder and an impression cylinder, a gear fixed on said transfer cylinder, fixed gears on saidplate cylinder' and impression cylinder in mesh with the gear of the transfer cylinder, idler gears loose on the hubs of the gears of said plate and impression cylinders, a' driving shaft having a pinion in mesh with the idler gear of the impression cylinder, and 'means for operating inking mechanism actuated by the idler gear of the plate cylinder.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two snbscribing witnesses.

ALFRED F. HARRIS. Witnesses:

IVALTER H. SMITH,

C. G. HARRIS. 

